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Leaders are Readers?

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I had a great break over the holiday season and managed to do loads of reading . 10 books read and not one of them disappointed! This shows that ideas and inspiration are easy to find and cheap.

Putting them into practice is what matters and is where the majority of people – me included –  fall down.  In fact much of my work with PMN is to get great ideas and turn them into simple recipes that can be applied and made to work well.  Because the real learning happens not when we read the book – but when we try stuff out in practice.

So here are a couple of the books I read over Christmas that you can expect to see influencing future PMN workshops and blog posts.

Dream Manager by Matthew Kelly tells the story of management at Admiral Janitorial Services and how they managed to significantly reduce staff turnover and increase sales and quality.  They did this by spending time listening to employees, encouraging them to talk about their aspirations (home ownership, provide a proper Christmas for the family, sort out debt problems etc.).  They then put in place a service to help employees develop and put into practice plans to make these dreams happen.

By developing connections between peoples’ aspirations and their work, employees become significantly more engaged in their work.  This enabled the company to experience phenomenal growth.

In the book Kelly shows how hiring a ‘Dream Manager’ to work confidentially with employees once a month on their dreams and (CRUCIALLY) the plans to make them happen can transform the workplace.

I loved this book and read it in a couple of sittings as it is short (150 pages), well written and with an engaging storyline.

Eddie Obeng’s Money Making Machine is a business fable designed to help entrepreneurs think about their business idea as if it were a money making machine. It provides powerful insights into how to build the machine most effectively to achieve financial success.

Now it is very rarely that I find myself working with anyone who simply wants their business to be a money making machine. Most want their business to make a ‘positive difference’ as a first priority. Making money is a necessary – but by no means sufficient criteria for most successful entrepreneurs. As well as providing some really practical insights this book got me thinking about what a ‘Progress Making Machine’ might be like. Watch this space for the outcomes from that piece of thinking.

You can see a full list of the Xmas reading here.

PMN Bookstore

20 Fail Proof Ways to Expose a Lazy Employee

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20 Fail Proof Ways to Expose a Lazy Employee is an interesting blog post that contains some useful ideas and resources – but to my mind exemplifies much that is wrong with management today. The assumption is that the employees is ‘bad’ and has to be exposed, ‘put right’ or fired.

In the majority of such cases, in my experience, managers get the employees that they deserve. The behaviour of the employee is a direct reflection of the way that they are being managed. I would advise the manager to reflect on their own role in creating this problem employee.

‘Lazy’ is a label and labels rarely help. Managers must learn to notice the behaviours that they see that lead them to think that someone is lazy.

They should then give feedback about the behaviours (arriving late, leaving early, personal e-mails, staring out the window for hours) and the impact that the behaviours have. ie ‘When you arrive late, leave early, stare out the window and spend hours on your personal e-mails I get frustrated because I can’t help thinking that you could get more done. I worry that you might get a reputation for laziness and that you won’t do as well as you could in your work here. Is there anything you can differently to avoid these concerns?

Managers who know that they have a ‘disengaged’ employee must think about their own role in the employees lack of engagement. After all they are paid as a manager to ensure that people are productive! It is their problem – not the employees!

  • Have they got the employee in a role where they can use their strengths?
  • Have they clearly expressed the performance standards associated with the position in a way that the employee understands?
  • Have they given feedback about the behaviours that cause concern?
  • Have they offered to coach the employee in order to improve their performance?
  • Does the employee get appreciation and recognition when they do things well?
  • Only once all of these options have been explored should they consider the option of firing them.

Getting it Wrong at Comet?

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It is so very easy to get ‘management’ wrong.  Very wrong.

Take this example from electrical retailer Comet.  My Brother in Law is looking to buy a micro HI-Fi and has been to compare models and prices in Comet and Empire Direct.  As he walked into the Comet store he was met by a sales adviser who asked what he was looking for and whether he would like some help.  Brother in Law explained that he was not in a position to buy today but he would like some information about a particular system that Comet stocked.

The sales adviser apologetically explained that if Brother in Law was not looking to buy today then he was not able to help him as his manager had told him to ‘focus on sales only’.

This is a great example of a manager ‘communicating what matters by soundbite’ and not getting the intended results.

Brother in Law enjoyed sharing this retail experience with the whole family on his return and no doubt will re-tell the story at the golf club, the cycle club, in the expat community in which he lives and at every party he attends over the holiday season.  I expect that by the time the New Year sales are over  thousands of people will have heard the story and drawn their own conclusions.

Now I am sure that ‘focussing on sales’ matters during the busy holiday period, but so to does ‘building relationships with customers ‘ and ‘the reputation of the Comet brand’.

Managing by sound bite is a dangerous game.

Committing to 121s

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I have had a some interesting conversations in the last week or two with managers about 121s. There are a couple of issues that are probably worth a reminder.

The first is that you should be scheduling 121s well in advance with your team members and then do all in your power to keep to the slot you have booked. If you change the slot for another commitment your team member will believe that you have ‘bumped them for something more important’. If you ‘bump’ them regularly enough they will believe that most things are more important to you than their 121. Providing regularly scheduled and protected time for 121s sends out a powerful message. Once you start regularly re-scheduling then the likelihood of them being missed and the routine being lost increases significantly.

The second issue is about when to hold 121s. I personally find it best to avoid early mornings. This is when your brain is at its best for concentrating on issues that require deep thought. I try to keep these times for jobs that need concentration, analysis and focus. While 121s require active listening skills for me they fit ideally into the afternoon slots when the brain has started to slow down a little. It also means that if nay 121s in the day do HAVE to be moved then I can always bring them forward to a morning slot on the same day. Bringing 121s forward in the week rather than moving them back – or worse still postponing them sends out another powerful message.

I also try to avoid Mondays (although this is great for team meetings). This means that if we need to re-schedule I can always bring them forward to Monday. I also try to avoid Fridays so that if I have to move them back I have some slots available.

121s should as much as possible be scheduled in blocks of time – 2 or 3 in a row with perhaps 5 minutes between each. This way you may spend 10 minutes getting ready for a session of 121s and 10 minutes ‘washing up’ after the session. You will find that you need the same ‘set up’ and ‘wash up’ time for a single 121. So scheduling them in blocks of 2 saves 20 minutes; blocks of three saves 30 minutes and so on. You will also find that your 121s are generally better when done in blocks like this as you can really get into the groove’ – and stay there.

Don’t under-estimate how much this stuff matters. Your team members will make judgments about your commitments to and faith in them based on how you maintain your 121 commitments to them. It may not be very rational – but that’s humanity for you!

Something for Nothing in Halifax

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Would you like to learn a management tool that is guaranteed to:

  • Save you time
  • Increase levels of trust in your team
  • Improve communication
  • Make you a noticeably better manager
  • Get more done – more quickly
  • Accelerate the professional development of your team, and
  • Reduce the pain of performance reviews?

Then come along to a free introductory session of the Progressive Managers’ Network at the Elsie Whiteley Innovation Centre on March 26th from 13.30 to 16.30.

At the event you will get a free gift to help improve your management worth more than £25.

Places are strictly limited so please book your place online here. Or call me for more information on 0113 2167782.
If you know of a manager who might be interested please forward them a link to this page.